Bared Fangs
by PalmtopPitbull
Summary: As the Bonyari crew enter the final semester of their second year together, Miss Tsugumi is finally settling into the way things are now. Unfortunately, her infamy as the Black Tiger in America has drawn in another like her...an assassin of animal like ferocity, the Smiling Wolf.
1. Chapter 1

**Currently working on this. Updates will be sporadic due to my job, but the ideas are there, and I will work on it in my spare time, posting when I get the chance.**

 **It has been quite some time since I've written anything, so please excuse me as I shake off the rust. I apologize for the short chapter, but it is just an intro, and as such more will follow.**

 **As always, please review, reviews with constructive criticism are the best food for those of us who write.**

There she is, Tsugumi Seishirou, the Black Tiger. Before her disappearance nearly two years ago, she had been considered the deadliest and most feared assassin of the American criminal underground. Her loyalty, in all its ferocity, belonged to the Beehive gang. It was there she performed her other duties in guarding and providing companionship for the gang-boss's daughter, Kirisaki Chitoge. Her loyalty to the young woman surpassed even her loyalty to the organization, and her ruthless efficiency once led to the obliteration of a rival gang at her hands. All in retaliation for their harassment of the young Miss Kirisaki. Even though the Smiling Wolf knew that the story wasn't completely accurate, it still sent shivers down his spine.

All of that bloodshed...all of that fear, and here she was, standing beneath the shade of a cherry tree, avoiding the worst of the midday heat of a Japanese Summer. She was living a normal high school life, and she was not in the field where she belonged. What a waste, thought the Smiling Wolf. While silently observing his prey through the scope of his rifle, he had to admit that, even from a distance, she was quite the beauty. Most guys would kill to land a girl this good looking. That fact alone was a stunning change from two years ago. Back then most still assumed she was a male, but the Smiling Wolf had known for a long time that she was a girl. When he paired that beauty with the respect he held for her and her skills, he couldn't help but feel like the job would leave a sour taste in his mouth once complete. Unfortunately, he also knew better than most in the profession did...emotions didn't have a place in this line of work. There was only one thing that was rewarded, and that was cold, calculated ruthlessness.

Keeping that lesson in mind, the Smiling Wolf refocused on the task at hand. Adjusting his scope to account for the light breeze that blew and provided momentary relief from the oppressive heat and humidity, he took his rifle off safe. Carefully aiming at the Black Tiger's, rather generous, chest, he let out one final breath, and placed his finger to the trigger. Unfortunately, the moment before he was to pull the trigger, a high-school boy stepped in front of the crosshairs. The tall, black-haired boy effectively blocked the Smiling Wolf's shot despite his skinny frame.

"Tch," the assassin, dropping his professional bearing as he let his annoyance get to him, clicked his tongue. The mess of black hair of the taller male didn't completely obscure his view of the Black Tiger, so he could get a shot off through the boy if he needed to. Yet, even though he was not ordered to limit collateral on this mission, the Smiling Wolf was never fond of causing unnecessary casualties. It tended to make things messier, and much harder to explain or cover up. This time though, the target was just too important to let slip through his fingers once again. Not after all the painstaking effort that had gone to waste previously. This time he would get her.

Since the rifle he was using was made to fire an anti-material caliber, he had no doubt that it would take both of them out. In fact, it was most certainly overkill. With that surprisingly short debate out of the way, he took aim once again. This time there was no hesitation to pull the trigger. As he pulled the trigger though, he noticed that the Black Tiger was already moving. In a split second the pair were on the ground, the boy tackled by the Black Tiger, and the Smiling Wolf overcorrected his shot as he attempted to follow her. The telltale sign of a miss, a lack of pink mist, and a large chunk taken out of the concrete of the sidewalk, greeted him once the dust settled in his scope.

"Damn it," the Smiling Wolf growled quietly, once again his professional bearing falling away in annoyance. He had underestimated her again. Despite his extensive knowledge of her, he had let thought her softened from her cushy lifestyle. Oh well, he thought as he moved away from the edge of the bell tower. He had back up plans in place for a misstep such as this. After quickly disassembling his rifle and storing it, he cleaned up the plastic he had laid down to remove evidence of his being there. He wasn't going to make it easy on them. As he left, he thought, we'll see each other much sooner than you might think Black Tiger.


	2. Chapter 2

**First I'd like to thank all of you who read and reviewed. Then I'd like to once again apologize for the short chapter. The next chapter will likely be short as well, but it was the only way I could properly split up the story.**

 **As always, please review, it is food for the author's soul.**

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Four hours after the attack, and Tsugumi's heart still raced at the thought of what had happened. The assassin had used an anti-material variant of a high powered rifle meant for piercing through armored targets and obliterating soft targets. They had given almost no warning. Most impressively, they did not lose their cool after a missed shot, and did not follow up with a wild and panicked second shot. Those facts made it abundantly clear to Tsugumi that the would-be assassin had been a professional.

Thinking on it again, if Raku had not shifted his weight, and had the assassin not moved to adjust at that exact moment, she never would have caught the glint of the of the sun off of the rifle's scope. Two coincidental actions had been the deciding factor in their survival, and that bothered Tsugumi.

The fact that she had not been in a truly life-threatening situation since she had departed from America had caused her to lower her guard. At least there she had always been on alert due to the many enemies of the Beehive. An attack like this one would never have worried her back then. The surprise it had caused here told told her that the cushy, normal girl lifestyle had allowed her skills to deteriorate. That deterioration was the biggest thing that bothered her. Maybe the White Tiger had been right when she first arrived. Maybe she had gone soft...

She quickly shook that thought out of her head, and then realized that her heart was also beating in excitement. The exhilaration she had experienced after the terror had subsided was unlike anything she had felt in a long time, well, almost anything. There was that pesky feeling...that infatuation with Ichijou Raku...the one that made her feel the same way she did during the assassination attempt. Terror, excitement, happiness, embarrassment and a touch of regret were all applicable emotions. Once more she shook her head, trying to clear it of distracting thoughts. She needed a calm heart and a cool head if she was going to make it through the wait for information from the Beehive investigation team.

Paula McCoy, the White Tiger, and Claude, her mentor, were heading up the investigation, so it might end up being successful, but she had her doubts. There was no way a professional like the one who took that shot would leave anything behind. Assassins like that went in like ghosts and left like a shadow. As her mind followed that train of thought, she was startled by the sudden assault of her cellphone's ringtone.

"Black Tiger. Go ahead," Tsugumi answered brusquely. She wanted the information found by the team, and she was not going to waste time with pleasantries.

"It's the White Fang...we weren't able to find anything. The tower and the surrounding areas seemed completely untouched. They tower didn't even have a speck of dust, but the owner put that down to his meticulous cleaning of the building. There were no signs of anything being disturbed at all. Like if you saw a ghost, if it wasn't for the crater where the bullet struck, you'd have to ask yourself if they were ever even there," Paula reported, giving her evaluation on top of the findings. Though her voice was steady, Tsugumi had known the girl long enough to sense a slight hesitation at the end of her report.

"Paula...is there anything else you aren't telling me?" the black-haired assassin inquired. After a lengthy pause, Tsugumi though that Paula was not going to respond, but a heavy sigh finally emanated from the other end.

"I should have known you would sense that there was more. Alright...I haven't told Claude or the Beehive this, because I wanted you to know first," Paula began to explain. After a short pause, she continued.

"I searched the area after the rest of the team called their search. I told Claude I'd call you once my search was done. While I was going around, I found a series of marks around the very edge of the park. A pair of fangs in two flower beds, placed like reference points. A long scratch mark, from a large animal's claws, in the side of a concrete barrier wall on the opposite side of the plaza from the tower. The last mark was inside the bell...a much smaller, but identical scratch mark that the team missed on first inspection," the White Fang explained. The marks that she described sent a series of chills down her spine. There was only one individual she could associate them with.

"Paula...your assessment?" Tsugumi asked. The reply came almost instantly.

"Tsugumi...an old friend has decided to drop by and visit us all the way from the U.S. The Smiling Wolf is here, and he is already stalking his prey."


	3. Chapter 3

**For starters I would like to apologize for the long time since my last chapter. My job often gets in the way of me having any free time at all, and so I do not get to write as often as I would like. Secondly, I would like to apologize for the shortness of the chapters. I have decided to write this in a way that, should I decide I want to, I can use it as the outline for a fan-doujinshi.**

 **On that note, I hope that you find this chapter sufficiently entertaining, and that you please comment to notify me of any errors I may have missed during my editing process. Remember, I can only get better with feedback! Thanks for reading!**

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 _I'm the Smiling Wolf, a fearless assassin. I've killed gang bosses, political figures, and heads of industry. I'm one of the most feared assassins in the world, and in the American criminal underground my name is second only to the Black Tiger's. Even with all that...why am I shaking at simple idea of telling my father, my boss, that I had failed yet again to kill the Black Tiger,_ Daniel thought. All of the bravado he had shown in leaving the clues behind had abandoned him. Now, he stood as the little boy afraid of the punishment his father was about to dole out. It took him a full 10 minutes of mustering his courage to open the door to Aiza's study and speak.

The moment he opened the door, he heard the news on the television, and he knew exactly what it was about. All the courage he had built up to tell his father was gone, because his father was already well aware of his failure. As Daniel closed the door behind him, the TV was turned off, and before he could turn around his father spoke.

"Failure...how do we deal with failure here Wolf," Aiza asked in deadly calm voice. Daniel involuntarily shivered before kneeling in front of his father's desk and answering with a bowed head.

"Failure is not tolerated. It is met with swift punishment...sir," he replied in a tone that did nothing to betray the fear that Daniel felt welling up inside him. As the time before the old man replied grew longer, so to did the fear grow. Finally, he heard his father's soft footsteps approaching.

"That's right...Stand wolf," the boss ordered. Daniel, not daring to disobey, rose slowly, but he kept his gaze firmly on the floor.

"Look at me when I'm speaking to you Wolf," Aiza commanded forcefully. Despite the power his father's voice held, Daniel couldn't bring his eyes up.

"I told you to look at me when I'm speaking to you dammit!" This time Daniel looked up at his father as the old man's rage boiled to the surface.

"Good, it appears you can listen after all," the old man continues, seeming to have calmed down.

"Now...Failure isn't tolerated!" As quickly as it faded, Aiza's rage returned, puncuating his final word with an open handed strike to the left side of Daniel's face. The force of the blow snapped Daniel's head to the side, but he turned back to look his father in the eyes once again. The iron-tinged taste of blood quickly filled his mouth as the anger seemed to replace the fear that had gripped Daniel from the moment he opened the door to the study. However, it seemed old Aiza wasn't finished yet.

"Is that what she taught you...to fail? What would she say if she could see this disgraceful performance you have put on?" Aiza's words cut deep, further prompting the rage in Daniel to grow. Just as he felt it boiling over, he noticed his father's expression change. The old man quickly walked away, going to a small minibar and grabbing out an ice-pack from the freezer before returning.

"Ice that cheek Wolf," the older Nakashima told him with what Daniel could have swore was compassion. This gesture took all the fight out of him. The monster that rage had become was placated, and while not vanquished, it went back into its layer, deep in the back of his mind.

"Yes sir," Daniel replied, completely defeated. Nodding, Aiza turned from his son before asking his next question.

"Now then, what is your plan from here out Wolf?" It was a simple question, but to Daniel it mean so many possible land mines that he hesitated before answering. Luckily, he had planned for this situation.

"I plan on executing Operation BH. The details are in this file, along with a summarized overview sir," Daniel answered with confidence, handing his father the file in question. After a quick review, Aiza nodded.

"Good...this has promise. You may yet be of some use...Well Wolf, what are you doing standing around? You need to prepare for your big day on Monday," Aiza's praise surprised Daniel, but then he was reminded of who this man really was with the berating comments that came next.

"Yes sir, thank you sir," he replied before leaving the boss's office. No matter how he had put it, Aiza was right. He had to get ready for the new plan. After all, it wouldn't do to make a bad first impression.


End file.
